


take my hand (help me on my way)

by mischief7manager



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-31
Updated: 2017-01-31
Packaged: 2018-09-21 00:30:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9522965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mischief7manager/pseuds/mischief7manager
Summary: "Kima has six seconds, less than six seconds, to choose: stay on the beach, make a plan, be logical, be reasonable; or jump headfirst into the unknown, gods all know what waits on the other side, no plan, no thinking ahead, just what her mind and heart are screaming at her to do.Six seconds to make a choice.There is nowhere Allie can go that Kima will not follow."Kima goes with Allura, consequences be damned. Always has, always will.





	

**Author's Note:**

> EPISODE 83 SPOILERS. BIG ONES. JUST SO YOU KNOW.
> 
> look. the world kind of caught fire, and i don't have much money, and i don't have much strength, but god damn it, i can write about badass ladies in love.
> 
> title from "lover's eyes" by mumford & sons.

She has six seconds to make a choice.

Allura is gone, and Vox Machina is panicking, and Scanlan Shorthalt is fucking _dead_ , and Kima has six seconds, less than six seconds, to choose: stay on the beach, make a plan, be logical, be reasonable; or jump headfirst into the unknown, gods all know what waits on the other side, no plan, no thinking ahead, just what her mind and heart are screaming at her to do.

Six seconds to make a choice.

There is nowhere Allie can go that Kima will not follow.

She steps onto the sigil and she’s falling, and it’s not like Allie’s teleports. Allie’s teleports twist her around and lift her up, and her stomach lurches and her head spins, but she’s always set down safe on the other side. This is a hook beneath her ribcage pulling her off her feet down, down, as her vision whites out, until she crashes headlong into-

Water. The cold forces the air from Kima’s lungs as her muscles seize, and she has a moment to think _Dragon save me, this is it, this is how I_ \- before she feels one of her flailing hands break the surface. She surges upward, spluttering and coughing, and draws in a deep breath of salt-heavy air. “Allie?” She spits it out with the seawater, throat already raw. “Allie? _Allie!_ ”

“Kima!”

She turns as best she can, already feeling the plate and woolen padding she wears growing soaked and heavy, and begins kicking towards that voice. “Allie!” And- there, bright against the endless expanse of blue: golden hair. “Allie, I’m coming!”

Kima swims and screams until finally, _finally,_ her hand makes contact with Allura’s. She pulls her in close, probably bashing her against the platemail, but Kima doesn’t care, and she knows Allie doesn’t, either, so long as they’re close.

So long as they’re together.

“It’s alright,” Allie says, her arm tightening around Kima’s waist, holding her head above water, “We’re alive. I-” She coughs, more water forcing its way from her throat. “I don’t know where we are, but- We’ll figure this out.” She’s already breathing heavily. They both are, still exhausted from the long fight and longer drudging walk to the surface, and her next words seem as much to herself as to Kima. “We’ll figure this out.”

Kima tucks her head into Allie’s shoulder, presses her face into the side of Allie’s neck, and takes a second to breathe. Only a second, because gods know they can’t afford any more than that, but it’s enough. She breathes in Allura’s warm scent, still there under the salt and sweat and grime, and feels it lend strength to her aching limbs. “Okay,” she says, lips brushing against her lover’s skin just once before pulling back. “Okay. What do we do?”

Allie looks up, taking in the position of the now-setting sun. “I think-” Kima can feel the arm around her already beginning to shake. “North. We head north,” Allie says. “Maybe that way we can find-”

She breaks off to cough again, and Kima fumbles around until she finds her hand. “Okay,” she says, squeezing with what strength she has left. “North it is.”

They begin to swim. It’s slow, exhausting work, and mere minutes in, Allie is the only one moving them forward. It’s taking everything Kima has just to keep herself afloat. Her platinum armor, her Holy Avenger strapped to her side, all the things she relies on to survive have turned against her, and some tiny corner of her mind finds it hilarious that this is how she’s going to die: killed by the physical manifestations of her own faith.

“Allie.”

Allura doesn’t hear her at first, too focused on keeping her grip around Kima’s waist and her arms and legs churning in the water. When Kima repeats it, she looks down. “What?”

“Allie.” She coughs. Despite their efforts, the waves keep washing over her, forcing their way into her mouth, her nose. “Allie. You gotta- You gotta let go.”

“What? No!” Allie’s voice shakes nearly as much as her body. She pulls Kima closer to her and swims harder, and Kima almost chuckles. That’s her girl. Contrary to the last. “No! I’m not going to leave you to- to-”

“You can’t carry us both,” Kima says, the truth of it seeping through her to settle deep in her bones. “And I can’t-” Her voice cracks, and she forces it to continue. “I can’t keep going. Allie, I can’t, I’m too tired, it’s too much, I-”

“No. NO!” Allie cries out even as she loses her grip on Kima. She grabs frantically at the armor, scrambling until she holds Kima in her arms again, dragging her to the surface as Kima heaves more water from her burning lungs. “You listen to me, Lady Kima of Vord. I have not fought by your side all these long-” Allie grunts as she kicks out, still swimming forward, “- _long_ years, only to have you die in the middle of the ocean because you were too-” She shoves forward again. “- _godsdamned-_ ” And again. “- _LAZY_ -” And again, though her every muscle must be screaming with the effort. “-to carry your own weight. Do you hear me, Kima? You _can’t die_ , you understand? I _won’t allow it!_ ”

Kima laughs. “You would try to pep talk me by-” She cuts off, spluttering, as another wave breaks against her. “-by… pissing me off…” She trails off, needing her breath for treading water more than for speech, but even as she draws on her last reserves of strength, she’s pulled beneath the unrelenting waves.

Allie’s grip on her tightens, but it’s not enough to keep her head up as she chokes, her body still trying to reject the endless assault of the water. The salt burns everything, her eyes, her throat, her nose. She catches a frantic gulp of air before she’s submerged again, limbs flailing, panic granting her a final surge of energy. Her head breaks the surface and she hears Allie say something, hears another (impossible) voice, but she can’t identify it, she doesn’t know what it means, all she knows is the cold and the wet and the burning, and the one voice that pierces it all, screaming out to her, “Kima, _hold on!_ ”

Kima’s vision starts to go dark around the edges. She’s trying, Allie, forgive her, she’s trying, but she’s so tired, and she’s so weak. She hears Allie say something, but she can’t make out the words. _Don’t let her blame herself_ , she thinks as the darkness begins to overtake her-

And then there’s a flash. A rush. And the water is gone. She’s lying on something soft. There’s a startled noise from someone close by, and Kima tries to open her eyes, to see what’s happening, but the water is still in her lungs, still drowning her, and she can’t focus on anything but the heaving coughs wracking her body.

“Kima! Kima, it’s alright, I’m here, just-”

That’s Allie. Kima tries to calm herself, as she hears Allie mutter some arcane enchantment, but the spasms still have her in their grip-- And then the water inside her is moving. Kima hacks, again, as the water lifts up, out of her nose and mouth, and she looks up to see Allie, brow furrowed in concentration, hands twisting in front of her as the Control Water spell pulls the last liquid from within.

Kima coughs, breathing easier at last. “That was disgusting,” she says, and then Allie is on her, pulling her close, burying her face in Kima’s salt-soaked, matted hair. Kima returns the embrace, as best she can. Looking up over Allie’s shoulder, she can see Vex’ahlia on her broom behind them, relief slumping her shoulders as she flies. They’re on the carpet, she realizes, Vox Machina’s flying carpet (the new one, not the one from the Underdark, the one they all pretend they didn’t steal from Allie’s tower, whatever happened to--) and Percival is sitting on it, steering it around back toward what must be the island they just left.

“Are you alright?” Allie pulls away, running her hands over Kima’s face, her torso, checking her over for any external damage. “I tried to get the water out as best I could, I didn’t know how much-- if--”

Kima drags her down into a kiss. It’s abrupt, and uncomfortable, and everything tastes like salt, but Kima pours herself into it. So does Allie, and they cling to each other on this tiny scrap of safety, amid the water and the dying and the overwhelming terror of the world around them.

“You should’ve let me go,” Kima says when she pulls away. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Percival turn away, giving them the illusion of privacy. Her heart turns over in her chest and for a moment she sees him again in the cavern below, ripped open and lifeless, Vex’s shaking hands coming down to cradle his head, and she swallows hard. They’re so young, these adventurers she’s fallen in with. They’re still learning what it is to lose.

“You should’ve let me go,” she says again, even as Allie shakes her head. “I was dragging you down, if Vex hadn’t shown up we’d have both drowned, you should’ve--”

“No,” Allie says. She’s shaking, from cold, from exhaustion, from emotion, Kima can’t tell. “Not _ever_ , you understand?” She takes Kima’s face in her hands, brushes her thumbs over Kima’s cheekbones. “Not ever,” she says, quiet, just so Kima can hear, and Kima can feel tears leaking from the corners of her eyes, her own salt water trailing down her cheeks.

“Okay,” Kima says. She pulls Allie closer as Percival guides the carpet back to shore. “Okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> me the entire time between keyleth's scry and allura's dimension door: kima's wearing plate armor kima's wearing plate armor you don't understand they're both gonna drown in the middle of nowhere kima's wearing PLATE ARMOR
> 
> @mattmercer can my moms be happy now pls
> 
> on a more serious note, i'm doing a thing right now where if you message me proof of donation to the ACLU, planned parenthood, or CAIR i'll write a minimum 1k fic off a prompt you give me, so. if you like my fic and also contributing to the fight against my country becoming a fascist dumpster fire, please consider donating. i'm not doing a minimum dollar amount requirement, every little bit helps.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [take my hand (help me on my way) [Podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13198938) by [blackglass](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackglass/pseuds/blackglass)




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